Oddity
by Nerual-56
Summary: An interaction between Loki and one of my own characters, Alexis, as she researches ancient gods for a college history class. Full summary inside. Oneshot.


_Ok so I'm not what you'd call a true "Thor Fan" because I haven't read the comic books and I haven't really done my research about the comic characters. I saw the movie (which butchered the original mythology) and did some light reading on old Norse mythology and that's it. Basically, in this little something-or-other, Loki is not the traditional Loki from the comics __**or**__ mythology. I've opted for a more light-hearted version of him because I don't want to meddle in the darker psychological torment that Loki seems to go through. I know he's the god of mischief so I've sprung for a more childish light of Loki. More pranks and childish mischief than actual evil :P This is movieverse, so no, its not based on the original mythology. _

_This is post-movie, meaning after [SPOILER ALERT] Loki let go of the staff and fell into the swirling void of twisted space. For simplicities' sake, he's on Earth and pretty much adjusted to life among humans. How that happened, I'm not exactly sure but I have a few ideas. Perhaps I'll join the throng and write a fan-fiction about that too... ANYWAYS, this is a small ficlet of an interaction with a friend of his, Alexis, whom is one of my general characters._

_Man this is so dumb XP_

Alexis was bored out of her mind, surrounded by books, her laptop, notes and a highlighter. She was at the local library and the silence of the thousands of books was **killing** her. Sure, she brought ear-phones which to listen to music with, but she was a talker. Vocal processing was what really made things click, so being in a no-speech-zone was a kind of personalized torture... She groaned and slumped over the table, feebly toying with the paper spread about. The only reason she was here was in order to gather information for a school project: a paper and presentation to be exact. It was for her college history class and she was assigned to provide a report on a individual of ancient mythology. Since everyone in the class was opting for the traditional Greek gods, she was looking for a Roman god just for kicks.

The only problem was that whenever she attempted looking for books on any of the Roman gods, she got loads of astronomy books mixing with the mythology books, which was confusing and annoying. Suddenly, she jumped as her phone buzzed in her pocket. It revealed a text message, "I'm watching you..." Alexis raised an eyebrow and glanced around. She took a double take when she spotted a pair of green eyes peering at her over the top of a bookshelf. Alexis glared at the eyes and hissed, "That's creepy, Luke! Knock it off!"

The eyes dropped behind the bookshelf and a man, presumably named Luke appeared, a playful glint in his eye. He was six feet and three inches tall but seemed even taller because of his leith build, but certainly not tall enough to look over the top of a library bookshelf. Alexis rolled her eyes inwardly, assuming he had climbed the thing. She eyed his shoes, which were not necessarily able to be considered clean given the rain-saturated ground outside, _"The library staff is **not** going to be happy about mud on their shelves," _ Regardless, she greeted him, "What were you **doing**?" He shrugged and slid into a seat across the table with a smirk on his face, "The usual. What are **you** doing?" He picked up a book, then another, "What's all this about Roman gods?"

Alexis sighed, "School. My history class, actually. I have to do a proj-" Luke was gazing at a book, but interrupted her, "A project on an ancient god," Alexis blinked. _"How dose he do that?"_ "Um...yeah...I was thinking a Roman god because everyone is already going to be choosing Greek gods but I'm getting too much astronomy mixed in with the mythology," Luke gave her a curious look, "Some say that the two are mysteriously connected," Alexis shifted, "Yeah, well I don't really have time to sift through all of this stuff to find an answer. Besides, its just the names used for planets that screws everything up," Luke put down the book and chuckled, "Indeed," His strange accent was thick when he laughed. Then he was quiet for a moment, seeming to think about her situation.

Alexis had put down her highlighter, not wanting to start any more work until she had heard Luke's input. He was scary smart, but all of his ideas seemed to carry a **mischievous** edge to them or seemed to have hidden meaning. It was a little off-putting, but also intriguing. It was as if there were gears turning in his head that normal people simply didn't have; as if his mind worked on a higher plane than the rest of the people around him. In fact, when it came right down to it, everything about Luke was odd in some way or another: how he spoke, the words he chose, the way he moved, facial features, physique, style of dress, interests...none of it was anything like Alexis was used to in America. She had thought about the possibility of him being European but he had told her that he wasn't from any of those countries.

When she did ask where he was from, a melancholy kind of expression would pass over his face but he would say nothing. A sly light would return to those emerald eyes and he would flip the subject of conversation. _"All in all...he's just __**weird**__," _Luke spoke up, "Well if your looking for gods that won't have any sort of name copiers you should look at Norse mythology," Alexis raised an eyebrow, "Norse mythology?" Luke nodded, "Mm. You know: Thor and Odin and Heimdall and such," He seemed to have to force the names past his lips. Alexis rubbed her chin, "Hmm...Well I don't know much about them. I'll give it a shot. Thanks, Luke! Wanna help me look for books?" His mouth turned sidelong and he declined the offer, "No, I've got tasks to attend to today," Alexis stood, "Bummer... It sounds like you know more about them than I do," He sighed, "Probably. But this is your project, so I won't interfere," She argued with him, "Oh, come on, Luke. I'm not asking you to do the project for me. Besides its been a while since we've hung out last,"

Luke looked at her with an unreadable expression, but it was a mask. He truly did not want to spend the afternoon surrounded by information on his brother and father or others he had known in his life. Indeed, he was regretting ever suggesting researching any of the norse gods. After all, he was one of them. As one could have guessed, Luke was actually Loki: the god of mischief. Or...at least he was. Apparently he was a pint-sized Frost Giant, too, which had led to a whole host of issues that had escalated beyond Loki's original intents. He could not have foreseen the monster to Asgard he would become. Pride and envy are blinding and he knew that now. This knowledge was much too late, though. He was already on Earth; disconnected from his family and original home with no way back.

He missed Asgard but he knew that his actions were unforgivable and that he would never return to that realm. Loki sighed, unable to come up with a good excuse, "Alright. I'll help you," His friend's face broke into a smile, "Awesome! What do you know about them?" Loki hesitated. He knew much about many of them. He could tell Alexis childhood stories about Thor and he knew the legends of his "father", Odin, by heart. However, she was probably looking for **Earth's** legends, which he didn't really know about. _"How ironic to know so much, yet so little,"_

Loki simply started to list some names, "Well for a beginning, there's Frigga, Eir, Buri, Earth, Gullveig...Thor...and Odin, too. There's also Heimdall, Hod, Bor, Njord and many more," His accent and how they rolled off his tongue made the names sound as if they were real people. He deliberately avoided his own name. Alexis was impressed, "That's more than I know. All I knew was Thor and Odin," Loki forced a smile, "Most do," She reached for a computer with which to search for books and mumbled as the search engine brought up results, "Hmm...Norse...Norse..." Alexis scribbled down call numbers on a scrap of paper and grabbed Luke's olive-green sleeve, dragging him along behind her.

She began picking books off the shelves, more enthusiastic now that Luke was helping her. _"Two working on a project is always better than one!" _Loki lingered behind his friend, looking through books without touching them. If there was one thing he was grateful for, it was the fact that his powers and magic abilities had not been stripped from him. Severely weakened, yes, but not gone. He turned to see if anyone was watching. When the coast was clear, he raised a finger and a rather large book tipped off it's lofty sitting place. It landed softly in his hands and he held it out to Alexis, "This will help. It's a reference book on all of the Norse gods and goddesses. There's not much on all of them, but it may help you make a decision," Alexis peered over the pile of books in her arms, then set them on the floor.

She took the book out of his hands and opened to a random page, "Ooohh! One of them is named "Day"! Ha! Oh and here's "Earth" and Ei-ein-" He said the name for her, "Einherjar," "Right. Einrjar," Loki smirked, "No, its **Einherjar**," She waved her error off and flipped through the pages, "Whatev's. Hmm... Honir, Idun, Lofn, Loki, Magni, Mimir; cool name! Mimir. It's cute!" Loki felt relieved as she breezed past his name, "Mimir is a male," Alexis ignored him and took the book back to her table. She sat and paged through parts of the book, reading Thor's page as well as Odin's.

She read Hiemdall's and Mimir's and Njord's but didn't seem interested with any of them. She looked at the pages of Earth, Idun, and Buri then concluded, "Okay so of all of these Odin looks the most interesting so far," She flipped through the book once more and this time, she stopped at the one page that Loki didn't want her to: the page that held the human's legends of him. She read the page, "Hm...the god of mischief. He's Thor's brother, huh? I wonder why you don't hear about him much," Loki sighed and groaned, "He's kind of an idiot," Alexis laughed, "Heh. Says here that he turns evil... Oh and here it says that he's not part of Odin's blood family...odd. Oh! And he has a son that's a **horse**? Wait...even better! It's an eight-legged horse and Loki is the **mother**! Ha! Mythology is weird," She continued to read, "He's the god of fire...that's epic. It says "bringer of sorrows" and "master of evil," But it doesn't say much about actual mischief, though. Just evilness,"

Loki rested his chin in his hand, a little disturbed by the human myths, "Well I'm sure that these myths aren't entirely accurate or complete," Alexis gave him a weird look, "No, I'm sure they're not. But it's all we have, right? I mean all this stuff is just made up like the Greek and Roman gods," Loki let a slight smile slide onto his face, "Of course," He'd let the human girl think what she wanted. There was no reason for him to tell her that she was wrong. Alexis continued to page through the books while Loki reclined in his chair; eyes taking in his surroundings. He had been in the library before, but not on a regular basis. It was quiet and peaceful...ripe for mayhem. However, Loki didn't **feel** like causing pandemonium. For once, he felt like just leaving things be the way they are.

It was an unfamiliar feeling...perhaps spurred into the light by his struggles to cope here on Earth. It was all very tiring: having to make a living and such. He had been used to simply living in luxury as a prince. Now he was having to expend energy on **not** becoming homeless instead of making mischief. Alexis was absorbed in the book for an hour, while Luke relaxed in his seat and watched the world pass by on the other side of the window. He kept out of the sunlight streaming in. Alexis noticed this, _"One more thing to make him odd,"  
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